Aith School Newsletter No 21

January 2009 Staffing 

We are pleased that James Garrick has been appointed as Depute Head Teacher after interviews that took place on the 14 January. There was a very high level of interest in the post from able candidates so we congratulate James on his success.

This will now lead to a vacancy for a Science Teacher and the recruitment procedure will begin shortly. However, Mr Garrick will continue to support the pupils sitting Standard Grade exams in Chemistry and Biology.

Fiona Anderson has decided not to return to teaching after her maternity leave entitlement is completed in February. Fiona, her husband Bobby and daughter Isla, will be returning from Australia in the spring for a holiday, so we‛ll look forward to a visit from them.

Frances Moffat, who teaches part-time in the Primary Department, has also started maternity leave. By the time this newsletter is printed the Moffat family may well have welcomed a new member. We wish them all well. 

Good News for P1 

The Shetland Library Service has offered to be the Scottish pilot for a scheme run by “The Book Trust”. Their project is called, “Booktime”, and is aimed at children in P1. They will each receive a free book bag containing a book for them to keep and a booklet for parents about shared reading. We are fortunate in having a superb Library in Aith Junior High School, giving access to quality reading materials from Nursery onwards. If you‛d like to learn more about this particular scheme, please log onto www.booktime.org.uk 

Primary 3/4 Enterprise Project 

As part of Primary 3/4‛s ‘Work‛ topic last term, the class took part in a mini-enterprise project. This involved the children setting up a small

business to raise money for the school‛s World Vision sponsorship.

The class decided that they would make and sell Christmas cards and Wrapping paper. Before they began, they decided they must have a company name and it was quickly decided that ‘Eid Cards & Gift Wrap‛ would be most fitting.

It took a lot of hard work which involved: designing a company logo, sorting order forms and packing cards and wrapping paper. Everyone worked really well as a team and managed to get everything completed in time. A grand total of £64.25 was raised for World Vision.

Well done to everyone for all their hard work and effort and a big thank you to all who supported Primary 3 & 4 during this project. 

Primary 3/4 Enterprise Project 

Sorting order forms and counting money Putting on the finishing

touches to the cards

Preparing the wrapping paper to sell Decorating the cards

Felt Fashion Event 

At the end of December, Primary and Secondary pupils organised a Felt Fashion Show and sale of work. Parents and guests were greeted with mulled wine and mince pies and were entertained with musical recitals by pupils. The highlight of the night was a catwalk parade of felt fashion items modelled by the pupils themselves.

Art and Knitting had worked together with pupils from P5 – S4 on a year long Enterprise Project, where with the use of an Enterprise Grant, they created hand felted scarves, bags, brooches, jewellery, hair accessories and decorative objects. These items were then sold on the night, raising over £400 to be used for future Art and Craft Projects.

Christmas Nativity 

P1/2 had a fun time before Christmas performing ‘Whoops-a Daisy Angel‛ to pupils, parents and the residents of Wastview Care Centre. The children learnt seven songs that told the story of how a clumsy angel ended up with a very special job - to tell everyone Jesus had been born.

Whoops-a-Daisy‛s halo accidentally fell down over her face just as she was delivering one of her lines, which brought the house down!

P1/2 are now selling DVDs of the performance to raise money for school funds. So not only have they developed their acting and singing skills but they are entrepreneurs too. 

Comenius Project 

The Comenius Project which Aith is involved in, is now in its third and last year. This European Project has linked Aith with schools of a similar size in Camari, in northern Italy and Vannas, in northern Sweden.

Pupils from P6 – S1 have been involved in communicating with Swedish pupils and also working on a topic looking at Homes. This has involved studying Homes of the past, present and this year, the future. The Italian and Swedish schools are working on the same project with information being shared between the schools.

This school year has seen ICT, Social Subjects, Science and Art work with S1 on the project, providing cross curricular links and shared practice. In Social Subjects, a visit was made to a house in Shetland which incorporated the latest eco-friendly measures into its build and in Art, pupils looked at designing their own house of the future, creating drawings and models of their own.

Visits between staff of the various schools involved have been made to help establish links and provide an insight into the different teaching practices that occur in other countries. In September of last year a visit was made to Camari in Italy. This enabled Aith staff to visit the school and meet pupils and staff and learn about the different culture.

Aith is now welcoming staff from Italy and Sweden to Shetland, to visit the school and meet pupils. Their visit also coincides with Up Helly AA, where they will get a flavour of Shetland culture.

Italian Primary children in Camari 

S1 pupils working on models of future homes in Art

Aith pupils at Eco House in Nesting

Primary 5/6 Sponsored Knit­in 

During the first week of term primaries five and six took part in a sponsored knit-it. This was to raise awareness and funds for the Children‛s Society.

The Children‛s Society aims to provide safe shelter and counselling for the 100,000 children and young people who are forced to run away from intolerable situations at home.

Pupils were asked to knit contributions towards a scarf that will eventually be joined together nationally to make 1km, a centimetre to represent each homeless child.

When the campaign is over, the scarf will be divided into scarf lengths and distributed to the needy.

Aith, Sandness, Happyhansel and Skeld schools knitted 1260cm and raised £25.00.

Thank you for coming, helping and donating.

Blue Print for Education 

The meeting held here on 27 November was well attended and many pertinent points were brought up. All opinions were noted and passed on as part of the consultation process. The next steps would be:

• report to Council in early 2009 on results of consultation

• then, development of principles for education for approval by Council

• if approved, preparation of an action plan to take forward any changes as a result of agreed principles

We are all interested in the outcome of this consultation process which is so important for the future of educational provision throughout Shetland. 

French 

Links have been established with a new school in France (Barbezieux, Western France). Pupils S1 to S3 started writing to their penfriends last November. As well as letters, pupils will exchange information on their respective areas on wall displays, Power Points presentations etc.. We are also hoping to speak live to the French pupils via webcams. I am aware that some pupils are in touch with their penfriends on MSN in the evening, making their language learning a real experience. 

S2 Trip ­ National Schools Film Week: ‘Persepolis’ 

S2 enjoyed a trip to the Garrison Theatre in November to view ‘Persepolis‛, an Iranian animation directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi, which was screened as part of National Schools Film Week. The film shows the Iranian Revolution of the 1970s through the eyes of young Marjane, one of the film‛s directors. As Marjane grows up she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny so she needs to decide where she belongs. The animated style and surprising humour made the politics accessible to the pupils and opened up discussion of the conflict in Iran and other countries on the journey home.

Aith Nursery – Dialect Ditty Box 

The nursery are enjoying topics from the Shetland Dialect Ditty Box this year. They are learning new poems, stories, songs and taking part in lots of play linked to the resources in the Ditty Box. So far this year the children have enjoyed ‘Jeemie Tammie Speeder‛, ‘Sam‛s guttery day‛, ‘Creepy craalies‛, ‘Wirsit Drawers‛ and ‘Noo dan moorit yowe‛. The children have been bursting with enthusiasm during all the activities. They especially enjoy listening to the funny poems and hearing unfamiliar Shetland dialect words.

During a visit to the library last week the children discovered a huge enjoyment of story books written by author Nick Sharratt. The nursery will be exploring these stories further and are planning lots of fun activities to go along with them. After this they will return to the Ditty Box to meet ‘Mary O‛ Burland‛, ‘Keetie Bairdie‛, ‘Wir dug‛ and many more fun characters and activities.

The children commented on the Ditty Box activities:

Rhys Anderson said “I think it was brilliant”, Ewen Johnston said “Moorit yowe was so funny”, Scott Bain said “I liked the insects”, Emma Deyell and Hannah Msalila liked playing in the rain and splashing in the puddles when they were learning about Jeemie Tammie speeder.

Bridge Building 

Mr John McPartlin of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) was a welcome “first footer” to the school on the 8 th January 2009. Mr McPartlin was in Aith to promote a Scottish wide bridge building competition sponsored by the ICE. In addition, Mr McPartlin took the opportunity to meet with some S4 pupils to discuss the merits of taking up a career in Civil Engineering.

32 secondary pupils, from S1 – S3, attended a short seminar on bridge building before they were divided into 16 teams of two and given hands-on experience of using a bridge design computer package. This computer software provided each team with the ability to design, cost and load test their bridge. The pupils found the software relatively easy to use and it didn‛t take too long before the first working bridges were being tested. Bridge testing was fun, especially when the bridge was noted to fail (sometimes spectacularly!).

Mr McPartlin stated the “West Point Bridge Competition 2009” was open to all S1 – S3 pupils provided they worked in teams of two. The competition will run until midnight on the 6 th March 2009 and prizes will be awarded to the top 10 entries. The team submitting the cheapest bridge to meet the design specification will be given £300 of Amazon vouchers.

Mr McPartlin was especially pleased to visit Aith Junior High School because Aith had been the most northerly school in Scotland to participate in last year‛s competition.

Any pupil wishing to participate in the “West Point Bridge Competition 2009” should contact either Mr Masson or Mr Jackson as soon as possible. Please note that the competition is open to all S1 to S3 pupils and not just those attending the bridge building seminar on the 8 th January. Good luck to all participating teams! 

Mathematical Challenge 

Congratulations are in order to Stephanie Goudie, Danny Leask, Rachel Sansom and Laura Hampton, all in S2, who each gained silver/ gold standard results in section one of the Mathematical Challenge 2008/09 competition organised by the Scottish Mathematical Council.

Mathematical Challenge  (continued ..)

Stephanie, Danny, Rachel and Laura, together with four other pupils, are entered in the S1/2 “junior division”. Over the next couple of weeks, the above pupils will be working on their solutions to the “brain baffling” questions presented in the second section of the challenge. A similar performance to section one should see Stephanie, Danny, Rachel and Laura attain silver or gold awards in June 2009.

The Mathematical Challenge is a prestigious, Scotland-wide competition that is open to all school pupils. Challenge questions are usually interesting and can be annoyingly tricky. For further information, contact Mr Jackson. Please note that Second Section solutions need to be submitted no later than the 6 th

February 2009. 

Having a Redd­up at Home?? 

If you come across any sturdy toy vehicles your bairns no longer play with, they would get well used at break-times in the Primary department. Anything from cars to tractors would be welcomed. 

Useful websites 

Stepfamily Scotland is a non profit helpline designed to give non judgemental help and advice to those who are affected by any issue surrounding stepfamilies. They have requested that we add Stepfamily Scotland as a link to our website. It can be accessed at www.stepfamilyscotland.org.uk

A very informative website with current educational issues is www.parentzonescotland.gov.uk

Information and advice on Head lice can be found on www.onceaweektakeapeek.com 

The school website is: www.aith.shetland.sch.uk.

Some Dates for your Calendar 2009 

2 February ...........................S4 Music performance prelim

2 February .............. S3 English trip to Garrison Theatre

4 February S2 Skills for Work Taster Day at Shetland College (Construction)

11 February S2 Skills for Work Taster Day at Shetland College (Care)

11 February Primary Disco in WMLC in afternoon—1.10-2.30

17 February ................................................. S4 Prelims start

20 February S2 Skills for Work Taster Day at Bruce Hostel (Hospitality)

27 February .............................................Last Prelim for S4

2 March ....SCHOOL CLOSED —Occasional Day Holiday

2 March .................................County Drama Festival Week

9 March .........Start of Secondary, Music Festival Week

9 March ................................ Music workshops for Primary

13 March Music Festival Gala Concert in Clickimin Centre—Evening

16 March................................... S2 and S4 Parent‛s Evening

20 March Secondary Ski trip to La Thuille departs on boat

26 March Primary Easter Assembly in Aith Church in afternoon

27 March ...........SCHOOL CLOSES for Easter Holidays

31 March..........................................................Ski trip returns

13 April ......SCHOOL CLOSED—Occasional Day Holiday

14 April ................................................SCHOOL RE-OPENS

24 April...............Early notice of—School Spring Concert

Study Leave for S4 commences on Monday 4th May